Wilson,
I have forwarded the "Human Shields" speech to the High Noon Rotary email
list. The speech came through in your email broken up by dozens of ">"
marks, so I spent a little time reformatting it in Microsoft Word. It looks
acceptable now.
The concept of volunteering to be a human shield to protest war is almost as
bad a self-immolation, which was resorted to by numerous Theravada Buddhist
monks during the Vietnam War. The coerced use of unwilling human shields is
prohibited by the Geneva Conventions, by International Humanitarian Law, is
considered a war crime, and if excessive, a crime against humanity.
It is therefore a significant leap in strategic planning to use this aspect
of International Humanitarian Law as a nonviolent resistance tactic. It is
questionable how volunteering to be a human shield would be effective, or
how it would be interpreted under International Humanitarian Law, but beyond
this style of deliberate self-endangerment being a controversial symbolic
act of civil disobedience, it fails to meet Mahatma Gandhi's definition of
"Satyagrahi" (Grasping Truth, the name the Mahatma gave his nonviolent
resistance movement), and is a logically absurd interpretation of Lord
Buddha's "Ahimsa" (Harmlessness).
The underlying logic of volunteering to act as a human shield is contrary to
the pacifist conscience (such as that which has been recognized by the Nobel
Peace Prize), because it has the potential to cause more harm than the
prevention of harm. It is a behavioral anomaly like Islamic Fundamentalist
suicide bombers: both behavior patterns resort to a contingency management
system in which the eventual punishment is the ethereal reward of a
glorified death. One seeks to place themselves in potential harms way,
while the other seeks to create harms way.
The obvious propaganda value of the extremist suicide bomber's terrorism is
juxtaposed by the theoretical "unterrorism" of the ultra-pacifist human
shield's civil disobedience. Ironically, both behavior patterns exist at
culturally extreme interpretations of "Service Above Self," because they
both imply a willingness to accept a high-probability of value-added death
for a near-mystical cause that will only be realized by a selflessness and
self-sacrifice so exemplary that only the saint, the martyr, or the heroic
volunteer.
As a Conscientious Objector, I know that my two years of compulsory
alternative military service renovating HUD houses for AFDC mothers in the
riot torn inner city of Detroit was far more meaningful than "protesting"
the Vietnam War. There are more enlightened ways to practice compassion and
altruism than by disrupting social harmony with potentially harmful methods
of expression. Fanaticism is never the answer.
The "Human Shields" speech listed below, which you read at High Noon Rotary
today, is an interesting speech.
Your peaceful friend,
Bernie Dunham
Stand Up for America Rally Speech
By: Beth Chapman
I'm here tonight because men and women of the United States military
have given their lives for my freedom. I am not here tonight because Sheryl
Crowe, Rosie O'Donnell, Martin Sheen, George Clooney, Jane Fonda or Phil
Donahue, sacrificed their lives for me. If my memory serves me correctly,
it was not movie stars or musicians, but the US Military who fought on the
shores of Iwo Jima, the jungles of Vietnam, and the beaches of Normandy.
Tonight, I say we should support the President of the United States and the
US Military and tell the liberal, tree-hugging, Birkenstock-wearing, hippy,
tie-dyed liberals to go make their movies and music and whine somewhere
else. After all, if they lived in Iraq, they wouldn't be allowed the
freedom of speech they're being given here today. Ironically, they would be
put to death at the hands of Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden.
I want to know how the very people who are against war because of the loss
of life, can possibly be the same people who are for abortion? They are the
same people who are for animal rights but against the rights of the unborn.
The movie stars say they want to go to Iraq and serve as "human shields" for
the Iraqis. I say let them buy a one-way ticket and go. No one likes war.
I hate war! But the one thing I hate more is the fact that this country has
been forced into war - innocent people have lost their lives - and there but
for the grace of God, it could have been my brother, my husband, or even
worse, my own son.
On December 7, 1941, there are no records of movie stars treading the
blazing waters of Pearl Harbor. On September 11, 2001, there are no photos
of movie stars standing as "human shields" against the debris and falling
bodies descending from the World Trade Center. There were only policemen
and firemen - underpaid civil servants who gave their all with nothing
expected in return. When the USS Cole was bombed, there were no movie stars
guarding the ship - where were the human shields then?
If America's movie stars want to be human shields, let them shield the
gang-ridden streets of Los Angeles, or New York City. Let them shield the
lives of the children of North Birmingham whose mothers lay them down to
sleep on the floor each night to shelter them from stray bullets.
If they want to be human shields, I say let them shield the men and women of
honesty and integrity that epitomize courage and embody the spirit of
freedom by wearing the proud uniforms of the US Military. Those are the
people who have earned and deserve shielding! Throughout the course of
history, this country has remained free, not because of movie stars and
liberal activists, but because of brave men and women who hated war too.
However, they lay down their lives so that we all may live in freedom.
After all- "What greater love hath no man, that he lay down his life for his
friend," or in this case a country. We should give our military honor and
acknowledgment and not let their lives be in vain. If you want to see true
human shields, walk through Arlington Cemetery. There lie human shields,
heroes, and the BRAVE Americans who didn't get on television and talk about
being a human shield-they were human shields.
I thank God tonight for freedom - those who bought and paid for it with
their lives in the past - those who will protect it in the present and
defend it in the future. America has remained silent too long! God-fearing
people have remained silent too long! We must lift our voices united in a
humble prayer to God for guidance and the strength and courage to sustain us
throughout whatever the future may hold.
After the tragic events of Sept. 11th, my then eleven-year-old son said,
"Terrorism is a war against us and them and if you're not one of us, then
you're one of them."
So in closing tonight let us be of one accord, let us stand proud, and let
us be the human shields of prayer, encouragement and support for the
President, our troops and their families and our country.
May God bless America, the land of the free, the home of the brave and the
Greatest country on earth.
